pendant – Art & News from EBSQ

Team EBSQ: Must Have Monday

Chanterelle, Truffles, and Shiitake mushrooms – tasty little bits of fungi. These little morsels will tempt your taste buds as well.

Mushroom Pendant and Necklace by Beaded Heron

You can see more mushroom based art in our EBSQ galleries by searching “mushroom”.

More work from Beaded Heron can be seen on EBSQ in her portfolio.

EBSQ Spotlight on Artist Made Jewelry: Christina M. Givens

This month’s featured gallery is Artist Made Jewelry. Handcrafted jewelry is not only an expression of the artist who created it but of the one who wears it. Whether created in silver or gold; plain or sparkling with gems and stones, artist made jewelry is a coming together of personalities that is unique. Throughout the remainder of March, we are going to take a few moments to catch up with some of EBSQ’s Jewelry artists.

Christina M. Givens

When I was a kid I always took everything apart. From the TV’s to furniture, nothing was safe! My parents always found it funny, that’s only because I would put it back together again. I naturally gravitated to watches and taking them apart.

When I first discovered the steampunk movement, I was dazzled! All the gears and cogs, metal, clock, aviation, I loved every bit of it! I began making pendants with tons of trial and error. But once I got the hang of it each piece had a purpose or a reason for it.

I’ve always felt that it was the sentiment and the reason behind a piece of jewelry that made it special, even if it was aesthetically pleasing. So this is what I try to create with every piece I touch. – Christina M. Givens

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EBSQ Spotlight on Artist Made Jewelry: Lauren Cole Abrams

Lauren Cole Abrams

I love working on a small scale, creating pieces of wearable art. My chosen medium is polymer, which to me is the ultimate medium for jewelry, as it has endless possibilities with color, form and technique. The making of artful adornment is one of the oldest forms of art and I enjoy the connection I feel with makers down through the centuries. – Lauren Cole Abrams

EBSQ Spotlight on Artist Made Jewelry: Terah Lyn Ware

Terah Lyn Ware

My interest in women’s history and adornment has led me to create the timeless jewelry collection, “An Era’s Ambiance”. In my studies of historical attire, jewelry was found to be very symbolic in women’s lives by representing stature, the mourning a loved one or simply adorning one’s soul. I use heirlooms from the past to adorn the souls of today. The antiquity and history of each heirloom that I handpick transcends beauty from a time in one’s past…”An Era’s Ambiance”.

My handmade jewelry would be described as “upcycled” works of art, altered creations, and “Neo Victorian” Classics. I create my jewelry from heart and soul to create “gifts” for those that relate to the past. – Terah Lyn Ware

Terah resides in Berkeley Springs, WV with her husband and son. She is an art teacher for Morgan County, WV.

EBSQ Spotlight on Artist Made Jewelry: So Jeo Katherine LeBlond

So Jeo Katherine LeBlond

I love tiny intricate designs and challenging myself to work with the smallest and most fragile of eggs was just a natural progression for me. The designs are drawn out and the egg goes through the same waxing and dyeing process as with a normal sized egg, just on a much, much smaller scale which requires special tools and a very light touch!

I work with shell cut-outs but also with tiny whole eggs such as parakeet, dove, cockatiel and finch. The most difficult to work with are the finch eggs which only measure about 3/4 of an inch tall. Their paper thin shells are so fragile that they will often crumble into nothing as you are working on them. Taking them to the point where they are wearable jewelry is a painstaking process; most don’t make it past the dyeing stage. They then they need to be filled with a special polymer through the small pinhole where the contents were emptied out and after that many layers of the same polymer are applied on the outside giving them incredible strength, durability and UV resistance.

Often fragile collectibles such as Pysanky are kept in cabinets or glass domes, displayed but out of reach of the viewer. Pysanky jewelry allows the wearer to have the closest proximity to something that most people only catch a glimpse of and knowing that the wearer thinks that my work is special enough to be worn and displayed on their person makes making egg shell jewelry such a rewarding process. – So Jeo Katherine LeBlond

EBSQ Spotlight on Artist Made Jewelry: Carmen Trueheart

Carmen Trueheart

My entire family on my mother’s side has artistic talent. My mother is a water colorist who really has a way with color, one of my brothers does all strictly black and white caricatures in acrylic but won’t let anyone but family see his work, and my other brother makes amazing things like sculptures and air gun paintings. And me, I make jewelry. I have always had an interest in beads and therefore have a self-taught knowledge base of the history of beads. To add to it, I was a hippie, perhaps I still am one. As we all may know Hippies loved beads! The last 10 years or so have granted me the time to take classes in silversmithing, and Precious Metal Clay, as well as learning peyote and other bead stitch work. Collecting vintage and some ancient beads and gemstones is another thing that I lovingly do. Precious Metal Clay is what I concentrate my efforts on these days. I find that it allows me to use the creative energy that I must use and allows me to blend it with my beads and gemstones. I love working with my hands, and all of the techniques to be used with Metal Clay is just the right mix of challenge and artistic expression that makes me continue creating new baubles, pretty things of adornment. – Carmen Trueheart

EBSQ Spotlight on Artist Made Jewelry: Sholeh Mesbah

Sholeh Mesbah

“Since early 2006, I have created bold and unique pieces of wearable art. My distinctive work features precious materials and complex techniques. From fine art to the natural world, the jewelry collection draws on my international background and diverse interests. For the discriminating buyer, my Collections offer original pieces for all occasions. In addition to making jewelry, I am a stained glass and a water color artist and above all I am a gardener. My inspirations come from everything and everywhere around me. I am always seeking multiple venues to express my creative side. Creating jewelry allows me to express myself in many ways; I can be serious, funky, colorful, contemporary, classic or just playful.” – Sholeh Mesbah

EBSQ Spotlight on Artist Made Jewelry: Vickie Miller

Vickie Miller

“I love it when I hear someone say that my work makes them smile. There are two things that drive and inspire me when it comes to creating jewelry, color and whimsy, and since I also design and create the glass beads used in my pieces, I can create whatever mood and color combination I desire. My jewelry can be as happy or as elegant as I choose depending on the color, texture, shape, size, and theme, of the glass beads I make.” – Vickie Miller

EBSQ Spotlight on Artist Made Jewelry: Robin Cruz McGee

Robin Cruz McGee

I move metal. I take inorganic, flat material and transform it. I hammer, stretch, shape, manipulate and model until that horizontal plane breathes into life. Although I have pursued many series, using every metal imaginable, my innate proclivity seems to be the organic form. My tools become extensions of me when I am creating a new form and I am thoroughly consumed in the process of repousse, right through to the application of the final patina and findings. When I make a piece of jewelry, it is wearable sculpture. These are statement pieces, and usually not for the faint of heart. – Robin Cruz McGee

EBSQ Spotlight on Seasonal Art: Be My Valentine – Christina M. Givens

This month’s featured gallery is Seasonal Art: Be My Valentine. St. Valentine’s Day is February 14th. It’s popularity means that February has become the season of everything love – hearts, flowers, candy and things done up in pink and red. Throughout the month of February, we are going to take a few moments to catch up with some of the EBSQ artists that celebrate this holiday by creating art.

Christina M. Givens

The month of February for some symbolizes love and for others it can symbolize the opposite. A lot of people have mixed feelings about the valentines holiday. With my work I try to capture the one thing that is constant year-round. It is the one emotion that can not be faked, that can not be put into a greeting card. And that emotion is passion. With out passion we would not strive to create works of art from our soul. This is my driving force of creating. With every piece of jewelry I make or every brush stroke my hand creates, there is a piece of my passion flowing into the finished piece. Valentine’s Day is a day for use to celebrate the love, passion & devotion we have for our loved one’s and our creative pursuits. There is a passion, obsession & devotion most artists feel when creating. This month just amplifies those emotions and the end result is very moving and heartfelt pieces. – Christina M. Givens

Last Days Of The Ornament/Pendant Challenge!!

We’re coming into the home stretch on the “Challenge! Draw or Stamp your Ornament Pendant Charm”. If you have something, post it, if you have been meaning to do one, do it and if you are just now noticing, go eat and then make something!

The 30th is the last day to enter and Mary Lu (Amethyst Lobster or Lobsterlu here on the boards) is offering some of her jewelry as a prize. When you complete your entries, post them in the “Challenge! Draw or Stamp your Ornament Pendant Charm” thread in the Functional Art section on the EBSQ Forum.